Sir Nigel Hawthorne

Posted on by Tony CrawleyCategories:Actors

  1. Denholm Elliott, The Missionary, 1982.      When it seemed that Crowden would not be over his hip surgery, Elliott, Nigel Hawthorne, Ian Richardson were considered for The Bishop of London. The twice as expensive Elliot also insisted on star billing alongside Maggie Smith and Trevor Howard. The films co-writer and star Michael Palin had no objections, feeling it worse when people read what was almost called The Missionary Position – and didn’t want a credit.
  2. Keith Barron, Doctor Who #127: Enlightenment, TV, 1983.    Due to his Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister role, Hawthorne was the most popular of the actors invited to play Captain Striker opposite Doc5 Peter Davison. Barron was fifth choice after Hawthorne, Donald Houston, Michael Jayston, Peter Sallis.
  3. Tony Caunter, Doctor Who #127: Enlightenment, TV, 1983.     Hawthorne and Michael Jayston passed on Jackson. They must have read the script. Because Caunter was denied any credit… for the first (and only) Whoverse episode scripted and directed by women, Barbara Clegg and Fiona Cumming, respectively.  
  4. Richard Wilson, A Passage To India, 1984.     One national favourite BBC star (Yes, Minister, 1980-1984) replaced by a future national favourite BBC star (One Foot In The Grave, 1990-2000).
  5. Patrick Stewart, Lifeforce, 1984.
  6. Michael Gothard, Lifeforce, 1984.
  7. Aubrey Morris, Lifeforce, 1984.  
  8. Frank Finlay, Lifeforce, 1984.
  9. Ronald Fraser, Doctor Who #149: The Happiness Patrol, 1988.    If the cap fits… Sixteen actors, from the rarely changing Whoverse casting register, were seen for the same three roles. Fraser won Joseph C from Cope, George Baker, Keith Barron, John Carson, Peter Cellier, Frank Finlay, Nigel Hawthorne, Glyn Houston, William Lucas, Michael Robbins, Clifford Rose, Moray Watson, Frank Windsor.
  10. Harold Innocent, Doctor Who #149: The Happiness Patrol, 1988.      Innocent became Gilbert M from the same group…

  11. John Normington, Doctor Who #149: The Happiness Patrol, 1988.     …and Normington was selected for Trevor Sgma instead of any of the others…
  12. Anthony Hopkins, Shadowlands, 1993.     Usual case of ignoring the much-awarded stage creator of the role (of CS Lewis) for not being well enough known in the international cinema. His day, indeed his king, would come: his Oscar nominated Madness of King George, 1994.
  13. Michael Blakemore, Country Life, Australia, 1995.     For his down-under Uncle Vanya, director Blakemore turned Chekov’s lowly academician Serebryakov into a hypochondriac drama critic – especially for Hawthorne. But he was George III   by the time shooting started down-under. Knowing a good part when he wrote one, the writer-director played it, himself. His revenge on drama critics the world over!
  14. Ian Holm, From Hell, 2001.    Treatment for his pancreatic cancer meant Hawthorne could not   play Queen Victoria’s surgeon’ Sir William Gull – while the opium-addicted Johnny Depp investigated the Jack The Ripper killings with a credible London accent ,.
  15. Ian McKellan, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, 2001-2003.
  16. Kenneth Cranham, Two Men Went To War, 2002.    Once attached as Sergeant King in comedy based on the true 1942 story of two British Army dentists who decide to invade France on their own in 1942 and ”most of what follows is true.”
  17. Bill Nighy, The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, 2005.
  18. Jonathan Pryce,The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, 2017.

 

 Birth year: 1929Death year: 2001Other name: Casting Calls:  18